The prime minister of Burma's outgoing military government has been appointed as president, handing a key junta member the top job in the post-election administration.

Thein Sein, 65, is the country's first civilian president after nearly 50 years of military rule. His appointment by parliament is the latest step in Burma's self-declared transition to democracy after elections in November. Critics have condemned the process as a sham aimed at cementing military rule.

The military's delegates in parliament and their civilian allies hold an 80% majority in the new legislature, which chose the president from a pool of three vice-presidents named yesterday. Thein Sein is the most prominent of the three and was seen as a shoo-in for the head of government.

An upper house parliamentarian, Khin Shwe, said Thein Sein won 408 out of 659 votes.

The role of the junta leader, Senior General Than Shwe, who has wielded absolute power since 1992, is unclear but he is expected to remain a dominant force.

Under the 2008 constitution that came into force on Monday with the opening of the Union Parliament, the president appoints the commander-in-chief, chief ministers of the regions and states, and several cabinet ministers.

The president has the authority to sever diplomatic relations with foreign countries with parliament's approval, and grant pardons or amnesties with the recommendation of the National Defence and Security Council, which he leads.

Thein Sein is a former general who served as the junta's prime minister from October 2007. He heads the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development party which won a huge majority in November's elections, dismissed by much of the international community as rigged in favour of the junta.

Thein Sein has an image as a "clean" soldier, not engaged in corruption. As prime minister and the fourth-ranking military leader in the junta, however, he did not have much decision-making power.